Photo Credit: Fredella Surjono
It's good to know what's wrong with the world... But it's important to know that sometimes, no matter how wrong it is, you can't change it. A lot of the bad stuff in the world wasn't really that bad until someone tried to change it.
Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts
In 2011, I left home for small rural village in southern India to volunteer for the first time. Continue Reading

3 Comments

The impact of Mandi opening her heart about her voluntourism experience is immense. Her impotence in the face of her desire to make a difference is heart rending to read. This should be on the reading list of anyone considering such a position.

couldn't agree more John - and all of the alarm bells are there for us that ubnderstand the complexities of responsible international volunteering -

1 "Although I had originally signed up to help at an orphanage, my project was unexpectedly switched after I arrived in India to teaching English at an ethnic tribal school."

2. "my volunteer project had no practiced system in which I could easily step in, fulfill the necessary requirements, and then leave with the confidence that someone else would arrive to fill my shoes. There was no sustainability or capacity building.

3 "The faces of the three sisters made a strong impression on me because they initially remained aloof from me and the other volunteers,

4 "I had truly wanted to help improve the lives of these kids, and naively thought it could easily and quickly be done.

I am incredibley impressed by Mandi's honesty and so feel for her - and hundreds of other well meaning volunteers who are time and time again put in positions similar to this. GRRRRRRRRRRRR

It's so unfair when someone has such good intentions but it's a tough world and she had courage to deal with it. I would be concerned about some these places with the vast human trafficking that is going on. One can never do too much research about these offers for voluntourism.